Would YOU break it off if you found out your partner was hiding tons of debt?
About 30 million Americans have checking, savings or credit card account that their spouses or live in partners are unaware of. Reports from a recent survey by Creditcards.com. This means about 20 percent of people that presently has a spouse or live in partner is affected by this.
The survey also reported the number of repentant committers of financial infidelity at 5 million people, which is 3 percent of couples. Millennials, above others had a higher chance to keep their financial information to themselves.
However, about 15 percent of people in the older category had secret accounts that their partners had no knowledge of. More so, 28 percent of millennials were not honest about their finances. With respect to regions, American residents in the south and west should a high rate of financial infidelity as compared to north-east and mid-west residents.
What’s the reason behind this? A lot of people are insecure about how much they make and spend. And according to Ted Rossman, Creditcard.com’s industry analyst, this is a major cause of financial infidelity.
For millennials, mostly ones that have watched marriages crash, and couples divorce, they tend to save some money on the side which Rossman refers to as a “freedom fund”. The divorces that there see, begins to put a question on their current relationship, which then makes them to think more of the ‘what ifs’.
As Bad As Physical Infidelity
Results from the survey reported that above 55 percent of the surveyed individuals though that financial infidelity was as terrible as physically cheating on your partner. This percentage also consists of the 20 percent that though that financial infidelity was an even bigger sin.
However, according to a lot of people, they won’t just walk away from their relationship because of this. About 80 percent claimed they’d just be mad at their partner, but won’t call it quits.
Just 2 percent agreed that they’d end things with their partner if they found out that their partner or spouse had up to $5,000 or above that in credit card debt. That figure is most times the height of it for people in the lower middle class earning $30,000 to $49,999. This means about 10 percent of the world would end their relationship.
About 15 percent claimed that it won’t matter to them. However, various researches have shown that financial takes the top-spot in the causes of stress in relationships. For this reason, Rossman advises that you let your partner in on every information concerning your finances. He maintained that this wasn’t as easy as it sounds, but it was very necessary.
He went on to say that it’s okay to be private about your finances, and that if your partner or spouse accepts, you can have individual bank accounts. However, both parties should always be in the know of events regarding finances, and have a general direction, if not there’s bound to be issues.
Considering the current credit card rates which sits at an average of 19.24% APR, keeping your financial information from your partner could tear both of you down financially. And although the economic impact may come and go, it takes away trust from the relationship, Rossman continued.
“More than the dollars and cents is that trust factor,” he said “I think losing that trust is so hard to regain. That could be a long lasting wedge.”
